Hi everyone, This is a quick update to let you know my posting schedule is going to be a bit inconsistent and sporadic over the next few weeks as I take things slower in the lead up to and for Advent. I'll have a 'real', one-off post later this week, return on Sunday as usual, … Continue reading Update
Breaking the Vicious Circle: A Reflection on Matthew 25.14-30
I remember as a kid asking lots of big questions about the world’s injustices. Invariably, they’d be met with a shrug and a resigned “That’s just the way the world works.” True as that reply may have been, it’s also true that ‘the way the world works’ is killing us. And yet, far too many … Continue reading Breaking the Vicious Circle: A Reflection on Matthew 25.14-30
Atonement through the Ages: Final Thoughts
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been exploring the most important ways Christians have understood the atonement — what it was God was doing in Jesus of Nazareth ‘for us and for our salvation’ — throughout history. Now it’s time to put some of the pieces together and offer some concluding thoughts. The atonement is … Continue reading Atonement through the Ages: Final Thoughts
Christ Our Victim: Nonviolent Atonement
In Friday’s post, we looked at the atonement perspective known as substitutionary atonement. We saw how it carried on with St. Anselm’s innovations in the doctrine, and pushed them further. It’s a perspective that focused on God’s justice, the seriousness of the problem of sin, and the great lengths God would go to resolve that … Continue reading Christ Our Victim: Nonviolent Atonement
Eyes Open: A Reflection on Matthew 25.1-13
Today’s Gospel reading is the Parable of the Bridesmaids (traditionally better known as the Parable of the Foolish Virgins). Whenever I see it in the lectionary, I consider it like the sounding of a gong: it’s telling us that Advent is just around the corner, and that we’d better be ready. This is a passage … Continue reading Eyes Open: A Reflection on Matthew 25.1-13
Matthew Root 